FIFA president Sepp Blatter recommended for 90-day suspension

Members of FIFA’s ethics committee have recommended a 90-day suspension for FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The recommendation was made after criminal proceedings were made against Blatter by the Swiss attorney general, according to the BBC. The decision still needs to be approved by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert of the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s ethics committee.

Swiss prosecutors have been investigating the 79-year-old Blatter, who has been suspected of signing a contract assigning World Cup television rights to the control of former FIFA official Jack Warner in 2005 and making a “disloyal payment” to the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) president Michel Platini in the amount of 2 million Swiss francs (over $2 million) in 2011. The ethics committee, who have been meeting in Zurich since Monday, have yet to make a decision on the fate of Platini.

But according to Reuters, Blatter’s lawyers say he has not been notified of any action taken by the ethics committee. His lawyers Lorenz Erni and Richard Cullen said they “would expect that the ethics committee would want to hear from the president and his counsel, and conduct a thorough review of the evidence, before making any recommendation to take disciplinary action.”

According to The New York Times, if Blatter is suspended, Issa Hayatou — the head of African soccer’s governing body — will become the interim president.